California: A Walk in the Redwoods & Rivers
For those that don’t know (we didn’t before the trip) the famous California Redwoods stretch from north of San Francisco up to Oregon along the coast. The coastline is amazing with rivers flowing down from the Cascade Mountains and thickets/forests of these redwood giants. The canopy of a forest of redwood is something that must be experienced, pictures just don’t capture it but we will try. We posted on Muir Woods already but to continue our trek through the redwoods up the CA coastline we made stops at the Russian River in the Sonora wine country, Eureka/Redcrest and the Eel River, the Redwood State & National Parks and Crescent City before heading into Oregon. Each stop offered rivers and woods, most of which were redwood forests.
Home School: The Coastal Redwoods are in the same family as the giant Sequoia and after visiting a few different groupings of these giants we can see the similarities and distinct differences n the “old growth” from the new growth forests. The sequoia and redwood family have natural defenses against bugs and fire with their low bark pitch and more resistant exterior. Their size also allows for the older trees to survive larger fires, and even experience faster growth after the fires. The kids noted that these trees are like the fabled Phoenix rising or growing from the ashes… 😊 yeah they are getting it… or some of it 😉 One other unique feature of the redwoods is their ability to create family structures of giants. One older tree can grow several others in its own root system become a giant single truck with potentially several giants shooting up hundreds of feet, each multiple feet in diameter. This cathedral of redwood is its own ecosystem but also can make for a cool setting for a kids’ park or wedding chapel… examples pictured below.
Our adventure curriculum also involved some wilderness first aid (Tyler Hamilton your first aid class was reference or applied with first hand experience for Jayden 😯) with Dad doing a fireman’s carry out of the river through the woods and Jayden learning some suturing techniques and wound care principles. Just a 30min field trip through woods and wine country to find an ER. Despite the injury we still hiked and explored some epic spots along the rivers and woods while testing the water proofing of Jayden’s stitches. With spring emerging we also had lessons on snake awareness and spring flower identification while also huddling up a few cold nights by campfires.
Driving the RV through the redwoods.
Thousand Trails Russian River RV camping. This is a section of the property along the Russian River. More rocks than Robert could throw… seriously the river may be slightly diverted now but he was in heaven!
We heard about these Acorn Woodpeckers and they were hilarious. Hard to get pictures of them but they were everywhere fighting and chasing for territory and arguing with their reflection on RV windows. They make holes into the trees and stuff them with acorns for winter.
The previously noted Acorn Woodpeckers left their mark on this fallen tree.
Jayden waiting for mom to bring the SUV down the hillside after a river boulder cut open his ankle. Dad did a fireman’s carry out of the river gorge. He also says Jayden has gained some weight :)
Suture homework for homeschool! The Healdsburg Emergency Department did a great job and super impressed with how nice and efficient everyone was. X-rays negative so wound care for a few weeks! Sorry Jayden, gotta stay out of the water…
Waist deep in the 55 degree Russian River. Pretty clean/clear at this point of the river so we found a few cool rocks and started to research what they were.
On this trip with this bunch… Confusion Hill was not really a mystery for us :)
Amazing wood shop at the Ancient Redwood RV Park.
Finally everyone can see what Michele sees everyday…
Yes that is a real redwood truck on the back of the truck.
Bear Creek runoff into the Eel Creek. Was quite a hike down from the east side and evidently the west side of the bridge is much more accessible. Super cool to find some downed redwoods in the opening and an amazing fishing spot.
Peyton caught and released a steelhead trout on the Eel River.
Peyton got some salt water fishing at the Eureka inlet off of Samoa Dunes Sate Park. Few nibbles but no luck but it was a beautiful day to fish.
4 wheel out to this stone beach on the end of the Eel River east of our camp. Very cool spot to chill, fish and rock hunt.
Eel River sunset.
Very cool habitat in the redwoods of Sequoia Zoo in Eureka, CA.
Again super cool habitat in the redwoods.
Believe these are Golden Poppies.
Snugglin 100ft up on the Walk In the Clouds at Sequoia Zoo.
The crew hanging… literally… out on the Walk In The Skies.
If you make it to the Sequoia Zoo don’t neglect to swing Nextdoor to the park. Amazing walk/hike down through the forest of redwoods. It’s under the Walk In The Skies and looks like an Ewok Village on Endor.
That is where Michele and Vince snuggled. Helps to show the height a bit better from below.
This park slide is an example of a family or cathedral of redwoods. The center father tree is dead from fire or age but the 11 surrounding redwoods grew from the root-system. The base of this is about 15ft across.
Cold nites but the fire is nice and we caught a camp side movie!
Pebble Beach in Crescent City, CA. High-five the sunset Robert… or good angle after a rock throw but still picturesque.
Mother’s Day at Historic Hiouchi Cafe in the Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park. Sasquatch joined us of course.
Beach driftwood forts!
Eureka, CA Lighthouse
Trees of Mystery is a great stop and worth the time/money. Bit cheesy with the Paul Bunyan motif but made it all the better seeing all the chainsaw fables carved into wood after an amazing walk through the treetops and a gondola ride up the mountain with a advanced hike down to get out exercise for the day.
True intellectuals having a chat. Jayden was asking why his left arm was so much longer than his right.
The Trinity Tree wasn’t the tallest or only one of its height in this private redwood forest.
This was a longer system than the Walk in the Clouds at the Sequoia Zoo and really fund to be on such a steep mountain side way up in the trees.
They host a. number of wedding here but the first line of this side cracked me up… Runaway Brides anyone?
Jayden was preaching in the Cathedral, which is evidently where weddings are performed.
An exhibit of the chainsaws used tin logging these giants.
The gondola ride up was pretty cool, we did it a few times.
There is a reason there is a gondola to the top! The trail is STEEP but we did the mile plus trail in good form and didn’t fall so kudos to us!
Jayden found a cool red snail.
Peyton surfing a section of the trail. It’s a lot more steep than the picture shows.
The rood system of a 200 ft tree on the side of a mountain.
Look close and those 3 redwood are growing out of the fallen truck of a redwood. These are some hearty sun seeking trees with incredible growth potential.
This part of the trail has all of the old Paul Bunyan stories carved into wood with chainsaws. Didn’t show too many but was a fun walk.
Elk Valley was true to its name.
Smith River on our way north out of California. Beautiful river and one we would return to spend more time on/around.
This leg of the trip also pushed our geology interest to a rock bound enthusiast level. While we are very much novice level, Jayden and Dad have found more consistently identified jasper, agates, various volcanic rocks, quartz and a number of chalcedony and basalts. We ordered a rock polisher and should have our DillerTime gem factory up and running soon ☺️ For now we are finding some amazing stones and learning a bit about the geology of where we are traveling. One spot in the Smith River in Jedediah State Forest actually has a section of the Earth’s mantel exposed from tectonic plates shifting. Pretty cool to see the changes in the rocks we found relative to the geological histories of each stop. Any rock hound experts please send tips and advice! We are staying at Prospect, OR next so we should be hunting gold soon! 😉
